Benefits of using Facebook Messenger for business – Around 1.3 billion people use Messenger every month, with 20 billion messages exchanged between people and businesses. You can use Messenger to generate leads, complete transactions, increase awareness or reengage customers. You can also use automated tools in Messenger.
Business Inbox in Messenger
Business Inbox is a mobile tool to help you manage your business communication directly from your Messenger app. Build stronger trust and relationships with your audience by replying quickly to their questions and concerns.
Instagram Direct
Most people on Instagram follow at least one business. About 150 million people have a conversation with a business each month. Use Instagram Direct to communicate privately with customers or respond to people who see your Stories and posts and want more information, like your website or how to make purchases.
Tools to help you manage your messages
As your business grows and you get more messages from different apps, use these tools on your computer and Pages Manager App to organize them in your Page Inbox. These tools are available for Messenger on desktop and Instagram Direct.
Labels: You can create labels for your conversations to organize them. Labels can be about anything, such as conversation topics or order statuses.
Notes: Notes help you organize your conversations. Only people who manage your Page can see your notes.
Assign people to manage messages: With Inbox, multiple people who manage your Page can reply to messages and even assign conversations to specific people. You may not have access to this feature for Instagram yet.
Move to Done: Select the checkmark for Mark as Done once you’ve completed a request. Messages marked as done move into the Done folder.
Mark as Follow Up: You can also mark a message for follow-up by adding a star to your message as a reminder.
Benefits of using Messenger
1. Reach customers where they already are:
Nearly 76% of people who use smartphones use some form of mobile messaging to communicate. Make it easier for them to contact your business by having a digital presence on Facebook Messenger.
2. Build customer relationships:
Have conversations with people and take their orders. Answer questions or concerns from your customers privately.
It’s simple. If your company is open to dialogue, your company is easier to trust.
And that trust can be earned on reputation alone. In a poll by Facebook, the majority of people who message businesses say that the option helps them feel more confident about a brand. Just knowing messaging is available is enough for some customers.
Imagine you’re about to make a big purchase. If you have to choose between a company with support and another without, which would you pick? Which one would you return to? Unsurprisingly, once people start messaging businesses, it often becomes their top way to contact businesses.
3. Communicate anywhere, anytime:
Turn messaging on when you’re ready to receive and respond to messages. With messaging available on your computer and phone, never miss a message from potential customers.
Digital natives expect your business to be online and available. In a global survey run by Facebook, more than 70% of people said they expect to be able to message businesses for customer service. Additionally, more than 59% expect to message businesses to make purchases.
Here’s how people use Facebook Messenger, according to a Facebook research poll:
- More than 81% of respondents message businesses to ask about products or services
- Some 75% of respondents message businesses for support
More than 74% of respondents message business to make a purchase
4. Stay organized:
It can be challenging to manage everything, from fulfilling orders to answering customer requests. We created messaging tools to help you stay organized, increase productivity and never miss a sale.
5. Expand your reach with advertising:
People and businesses around the world exchange over 20 billion messages each month on Facebook Messenger. Advertise directly on Messenger to grow your business and reach new audiences.
Features of Messenger for Business
Messenger greetings: You can set a custom greeting to appear when someone starts a conversation with your Page. This greeting appears before any messages are sent and can provide information you want people to have before they message you.
Saved replies: Saved replies allow you to write, save and reuse messages. Saved replies can be useful for commonly asked questions like your business hours, email or phone number.
Chat plugin for websites: Connect with your website visitors through a chat plugin where people can click on a Messenger icon on your website, directing them instantly into a conversation with your business.
Automation: Save time by automating your responses using these tools:
- Instant Replies: Send an automatic message as soon as someone messages you. You can customize your message to say hello, give people more information about your Page or let them know when to expect a response.
- Set away schedule and message: You can automatically set your Page’s status to away during scheduled hours. Let people know when your Page is away and when to expect a response.
Ads that click to Messenger: Use ads that click to Messenger to reach people at scale, then continue to interact with them individually using live chat or a bot for Facebook Messenger. Generate leads, answer questions, drive transactions and offer support.
Responsive to messages badge
The very responsive to messages badge is available to businesses with a response rate of at least 90% and a response time under 15 minutes. Customers appreciate when a business is available and responsive to their questions and product inquiries
People prefer businesses they can communicate with through messaging. In an increasingly mobile world, customers also expect immediate replies to their messages. The very responsive to messages badge tells potential customers that your business quickly answers people’s questions and concerns. Customers will trust your Page more, which helps foster loyalty and grow your business.
This badge automatically appears on your Page if you have a Messenger response rate of 90% or higher and a response time under 15 minutes.
Here are best practices to help you achieve the very responsive badge:
- Turn on notifications: We’ll notify you when you have a new message if you turn on notifications in your settings.
- Use Automated Responses: Use our tools to help you acknowledge every customer who messages you, even when you’re away. To help manage your availability and communication, set up away messages and instant replies. They won’t count toward your Page’s response rate or response time.
- Mark messages: Move irrelevant messages to the Spam folder, and messages you’re finished with to the Done folder. That way, you can find important and ongoing conversations in your Inbox. Messages in your Spam and Done folders no longer count toward your Page’s response rate or response time.
- Use away status and message: Messages you receive when your Page’s status is set to away won’t count toward your response rate or response time.